Councilman Remains Bitter Over Arrest

Fortier Regrets Drunken Driving Charge

September 16, 2000|By CHRISTINE DEMPSEY; Courant Staff Writer

EAST HARTFORD — Robert J. Fortier, the most controversial figure on the town council, cried foul Friday over his arrest on drunken driving and speeding charges , but later tempered his remarks with regret.

The outspoken Republican was stopped shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday at the corner of Main Street and Murray Street, where he lives. Fortier was on his way back from a fund-raiser for his campaign against state Rep. Michael Christ, D-East Hartford where, he told police, he drank four gin and tonics on an empty stomach.

Fortier, who said he has no plans to drop out of the House race, apologized for the incident in a written statement.

``The bottom line is it's real unfortunate this happened,'' Fortier, 44, said in a telephone interview Friday night. ``I can't undo it. The only thing I can do is not to ever let it happen again.

``I just think [the police] should have cut me a little slack,'' he said. He said he doubted police would have charged Christ or Democratic Mayor Timothy D. Larson.

Fortier had toned down his comments from earlier in the day, when he said his arrest was a politically motivated, ``orchestrated'' effort.

Police said they pulled Fortier over as a part of their ongoing effort to step up enforcement of motor vehicle laws -- ironically, the same laws Fortier has loudly accused police of not enforcing enough in the past. Sixty motorists were stopped throughout town between 5 p.m. and midnight Thursday, police records show.

``I stand behind my officers 100 percent,'' Acting Chief Mark Sirois said Friday. ``I want to stress that he was treated the same as any citizen.''

According to the police report, Officer Philip Serkosky used a laser device to clock Fortier at 47 mph in a 30-mph zone. Serkosky pulled him over, but didn't recognize Fortier until he approached the vehicle, he wrote.

Serkosky wrote that Fortier slurred his words, and that he detected a ``strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath.''

Fortier would not allow police to do a field sobriety test on him, the police report states. Fortier was arrested and brought to the police station to be booked.

There, he would not take an Intoxilyzer test to determine his blood alcohol level until he learned that a refusal would cause him to lose his license. When he blew into the machine at 11:01 p.m., it measured his blood alcohol content at well above the legal limit of 0.10 percent. When he blew into the machine at 11:32 p.m., his blood alcohol content was again over the legal limit, police said.

Fortier would not accept a temporary license, which means that, for now, he can't drive legally, police said. Fortier was released on a promise to appear on Sept. 25 in Manchester Superior Court, police said.

In the two interviews Friday, Fortier said he has been at odds with police over a number of issues, including traffic enforcement and the process being followed to fire Police Chief James W. Shay.

Fortier, a financial planner, has been a visible presence in town for years, organizing downtown cleanups and, more recently, starting a nonprofit group called the North Side Residents and Merchants Association. About 200 children attended a picnic the group held last week, Fortier said.

He was elected to the town council in 1997, and lost an aggressive fight for the mayor's office to Larson two years later.